SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Grasshoppers Hit Five Bombs to Beat Power

Published on June 10, 2009 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Charleston, WV (June 10, 2009) - Five out of Greensboro's eight hits were homeruns on Wednesday night at Appalachian Power Park, and the Grasshoppers used those bombs to take the final game of the series, defeating the West Virginia Power 10-1.

West Virginia scored their lone run of the contest in the bottom of the first inning. Robbie Grossman ripped a one out single and moved to second base on a wild pitch before scoring on Calvin Anderson's two-out base hit. Greensboro's first hit of the game gave them the lead in the top of the fourth. Justin Bass belted a three-run homer with two outs to give the Grasshoppers the lead for good.

The Grasshoppers pulled away with a six run seventh inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Danny Pertusati hit what could have been an inning double play ball. The ball went back to Duke Welker on the mound, but Welker's errant throw towards second base went into center field, allowing Bass to score. Welker was then replaced by Wilson Ortiz, and before throwing a pitch, he attempted to pickoff Pertusati at first, but his errant throw ended up in the stands, allowing another run to score.

The Grasshoppers then used back-to-back-to-back homeruns from Kevin Mattison, Jeremy Synan and Jake Smolinski to finish the six run frame. Smolinski wasn't finished, as he belted another solo homerun in the top of the ninth inning to plate the final run of the contest.

Graham Johnson (3-1) allowed just a run on four hits over six strong innings and fanned four batters to get the victory. Welker (0-6) was tagged for six runs, three earned on four hits and walked five batters over six and a third in a losing effort. It was his longest outing of the season.

West Virginia fell to 22-37 after the loss, and the Grasshoppers improved to 30-28 after the win. Anderson and Grossman turned in the only multi-hit games for the Power with two hits a piece. Grossman has now hit safely in six straight games. Quincy Latimore went 0-for-4, bringing his eight game hitting streak to an end. Erik Huber singled and went 1-for-3 to bring his on base streak to nine games. The start of the game was delayed 27 minutes because of rain.

West Virginia will continue their nine game home stand and begin a four game series against the Hickory Crawdads at Appalachian Power Park on Thursday night. The West Virginia Power will start left hander Rudy Owens (5-1, 2.80) and the Crawdads will counter with left hander Martin Perez (2-3, 2.70). The first pitch will be delivered at 7:05 PM.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 10, 2009


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